At the end of November last year, a volunteer group was formed. Currently, around 30 citizens are part of it, and they are raising concerns about environmental pollution and other issues. Although the prefecture held resident meetings to explain the plan, according to Yoshio, participation was limited, and most of the residents in the area were unaware that a waste incinerator was planned for construction. Yoshio became more emphatic. “Isn’t it the city’s responsibility to make sure the public knows? Most citizens are unaware of the incinerator construction plan. The process of the plan moving forward with people being informed and agreeing is completely different from it moving forward without public knowledge. We plan to demand the city fulfill its responsibility to inform.” Some farmers near the planned construction site have already shut down their businesses. In the political world, some have begun to raise questions and take action. Eiichi Isha, a 78-year-old city councilor from Kishiwada. Isha, who holds a doctorate in engineering from Osaka City University and has long been involved in environmental issues, has been in discussions with experts and has been speaking with the Osaka Prefecture, Izumi City, and the developers. Isha and his colleagues strongly advocate for increasing the height of the planned 50-meter chimney to 150 meters to help disperse and dilute the exhaust gases. “At 50 meters, there is a risk of a downdraft phenomenon (where smoke emitted from the chimney is caught in the vortex behind a building downwind, causing it to descend and stagnate) when strong winds blow. This can be resolved by making the chimney taller. Simply put, the higher the chimney, the lower the concentration of exhaust gases. This is agreed upon by experts, including university professors. Also, the stoker-type incinerators in the plan are likely to generate 10 to 40 times more harmful dioxins compared to current incinerators. We do not trust the environmental assessment conducted by Osaka Prefecture.” Last fall, Isha submitted an information disclosure request to Osaka Prefecture for the meeting minutes of the review process. He believed that transparency in the environmental assessment was essential. However, what he received from the prefecture were meeting minutes with many parts blacked out. The following article, “【Mostly Blacked Out】Unbelievable Responses Received from Osaka Prefecture Regarding the Waste Incinerator Construction Issue in Izumi City,” will provide a detailed report on the unbelievable response document received from Osaka Prefecture after the information disclosure request. Read the second part of the article “【Mostly Blacked Out】The Incredible Response from Osaka Prefecture Regarding the Industrial Waste Incinerator Construction Issue in Izumi City, Osaka.”